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Home > Archive > Apr 17, 2008

Far From Home but Flying High
By Cami Cox
Staff Writer
For Tuacahn High School student Jenny Smith, home is a long distance away as she finishes up her high school education.
A senior at Tuacahn, Jenny, 18, has been living on her own since age 16, when she moved away from her home and family in South Jordan to attend Tuacahn High School.
“It took a lot of convincing, but (my parents) support me,” Jenny said. “They don't like it – they'd rather have me live at home, but they support me in what I want to do.”
At her hometown high school, Jenny was struggling against the stresses associated with attending a large school, such as peer pressure and cliques and large class sizes. It had gotten to the point that she just didn't want to go anymore, she said.
“The only stress relief I ever got was in dancing,” Jenny said, “and so I decided that's what I wanted to do.”
Seeking relief and a solution, Jenny got online in search of a school where she could focus on her passion for dancing as well as explore other performing arts like singing and acting. In her Web browsing, she came across Tuacahn High, and in reading about the performing arts school, Jenny decided that was the place she wanted to go.
“I tried convincing my parents, and they were like, 'That's in St. George! You can't move there,'” she said.
But Jenny's parents ultimately relented, and she successfully applied to THS, made living arrangements in the St. George area and departed for Southern Utah. With six siblings back home (and now another one on the way), she wasn't worried about leaving her folks behind with an empty nest.
“They have a lot to keep them distracted while I'm gone!” Jenny said.
So she began her new scholastic career within the red rock canyon walls surrounding Tuacahn. Her first year away from home was a difficult one, she said, but Jenny loved her new school, and life at Tuacahn High was just what she'd hoped it would be.
“When I came here, I could do everything,” she said. “It changed my whole outlook on being able to learn and have fun at the same time, because I did not like school (before).”
“Tuacahn helped when it came to, like, smaller class sizes,” she added. “I know everybody. Mr. Fowler comes up and says hi to me. He's the principal – lots of kids don't even know who their principal is, let alone have ever even spoken to him. I talk to him every day, and I like that.”
In addition to having a closer-knit student body than at her former high school, Tuacahn had the performing arts emphasis that Jenny had dreamed of, including her favorite pastime of all: dance.
“Dancing is what makes it so I can wake up every morning,” she said.
Jenny has remained a student at Tuacahn, and she has excelled in the various performing arts there and is winding up her senior year. She's planning to pursue a double major in musical theater and dance when she goes to college.
Jenny currently serves as the president of the Tuacahn High School dance company, and she was recently honored as the Southwest Utah Sterling Scholar in the dance category, chosen from among students from all over Southwest Utah.
Though being away from family to go to school has been hard, Jenny said she no longer fears what college life will have in store for her, having essentially been on her own for so long. She lives with a host family here and pays monthly rent, just as a college student would, and she said she feels better prepared to face the challenges of post-high-school life as a result.
Jenny said she has also gained a new appreciation for her parents and all they do as a result of being away from home, and she has also learned the importance of family
“I appreciated my family before, but once something is taken away from you, that's when you realize how much it means to you,” she said.
But though she's had to be away from her loved-ones to attend the school, Jenny said she wouldn't trade her years at Tuacahn for anything.
“It's been good, one of the best experiences I've ever had in my entire life. It's changed me forever,” she said.“I would not trade this school or the experience that I've had here for anything.”
Jenny's parents are Dan and Judy Smith, of South Jordan, Utah. Her Tuacahn host parents are Scott and Anna Marie Smith, of Santa Clara.

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